MOTORBIKES FOR DUMMIES

The phone rang twice, and then Henry's baritone answered, "Ben, you're late!"

"I've been detained at your guard house, Alpha." Ben intoned, "Come over and meet us."

"Why the hell should I?" Henry argued, "I'll see you guys at the foyer."

"I told you, we're detained here, Alpha." Ben repeated as if speaking to a small child. Naturally this peeved Henry immediately, "Tell them to release you."

"They want to do a body search." Ben drawled, he grinned at us as he added, "I personally don't mind, but if your men touch Sam, I can't promise we won't kill them."

"What the hell! You brought Sam? What the hell are you thinking, Ben?" Henry sounded immediately alarmed, then he sounded a little more distant, "Why is there a bodysearch? Who's the officer in charge?"

"Why the hell would I care?" Ben shot back.

But Henry hadn't been talking to us, "Pete! Who the hell is on gate duty tonight?"

I couldn't help but look at the officer and the two guards. They looked stricken, and I felt a little bit sorry for them.

Then Henry decided, "You brought the bikes right? I'll be down in five."

"Hurry up, Hen!" I decided to chime in, "I'm freezing my butt off out here!"

And I was... It was a winter night. None of us were wearing a coat. It was warm in the truck, but even with our wolf resistance to cold, standing this long outdoors was dumb.

Now that they've heard their young alpha was on his way out to the guard house because of us, the officer seemed to have run out of hot air. He tried to smile and approach Harvey to humbly reason out how "you can never be too careful nowadays" and "why didn't you mention you were the young alpha's good friends?"

Harvey remained tight lip and Ki simply cut in, "May I access the truck now?"

"Ah, yes... Of course, of course..." The officer said.

It made me wonder what we could get away with if we had simply called someone who sounded like Henry. Hahaha.

Ki returned from the truck with Night Leaf warrior jackets, the new armored ones, and there was one in my size!

We all put it on. Belatedly. I stole another glance at the officer. Who said we weren't Night Leaf warriors?

Henry appeared with Beta Peter on his heel.

"Alpha Henry is here." Beta Peter announced. The officer and guards immediately stood at attention.

"What the hell." Henry said in greeting.

I laughed at Henry's p***ed off expression, "Surprise!"

Ki and Harvey had just unloaded the four brand new motorbikes, and pulled out helmets and gloves.

"Ever rode one of these before, Alpha?" Ben asked.

"Nope." Henry grinned.

"Me neither." Ben admitted.

"Just don't crash them too badly." Harvey warned.

Now that Henry was around, the guys were pretty free to take back their weapons.

"Can we unload the supplies here and have our warriors pick them up from here later?" Harvey asked as he returned his gun into his jacket.

"Sure." Beta Peter nodded. He looked sternly at the officer and two guards standing at attention behind us, "Unload the supplies. Make sure everything is handed over to the Night Leaf warriors later. And see me in my office first thing tomorrow morning."

"Yes, beta." The officer and the two guards bobbed short bows immediately. I could hear one of them gulp before scurrying over to unload the truck. Now that the tables were turned, Harvey supervised with a few clear but coolly clipped instructions. He was like back at the Langston.

It wasn't quite fair to the guards that their officer was an a**hole. Poor guards. Beta Peter sounded like he meant business and although I could never imagine him in a scary light, from the looks on the guards' faces, they were freaking out proper.

"Let's start biking 101." Ki beamed, "Maybe you guys can try out here before we head out."

"No can do." Henry shook his head, "If my mum finds out, I'd never hear the end of it."

"Your mum doesn't want you out hunting rogues either?" I asked.

Henry paused before answering, "No Sam, my mum doesn't want me biking. What the hell! Don't tell me you snuck out!"

I was so happy I laughed. Hahahaha.

Henry groaned, "How could you guys let her follow you?"

He didn't wait for my betas to answer, he turned back to me, "Do you even know how to ride?"

"It's fine, alpha." Ben said, "She's riding with me."

"Not a chance, Ben." Harvey shook his head.

"Until you learn to ride properly, beta, the goddess rides with me." Ki beamed.

Ben growled a little, and then decided it was probably for the better. Despite his impatience and bossiness, Ben was practical like that, "Come on, Alpha Henry. Let's learn to ride."

"Outside." Henry insisted, "Not here. My mum might see from her window."

And that's how the five of us and four new bikes ended up along the quiet brick lined street.

"This should be fine." Ki decided, "Its straight and flat enough."

"I wanna learn too!" I decided.

Henry groaned, "Come off it, Sam. You shouldn't even be here!"

I flared at that, "Don't look down on me, Hen."

Stupid Henry. I'd show him!

Harvey showed us how to work the controls. Basically, all we needed to do was straddle the bike, kick back the stand, and start the engine.

The guys did okay, but I was two inches shorter and for some reason, those two inches was essential for reaching the kickstand... Or the ground for the matter. Grrr... Stupid guys smirking at me when they got their motors purring.

"A hundred pardons, goddess." Ki got on behind me and I heard the kickstand come up. My feet were totally off the ground, but I was sitting steady and wth, I started the engine. It came to life easily.

Then Harvey showed us how to go, control the clutch, and stop, "Get to the end of the road."

To my chargin, the two guys were off almost the moment Harvey's bike moved forward.

"Clutch!" I hear Harvey yell out to them, "Don't look down."

I didn't understand the clutch thing at all. I looked down to find it. I'm so super annoyed.

"Take your time, goddess." Ki said encouragingly from behind me.

Still super annoyed on my stationary bike. Okay, I found the clutch, and I could reach it. Okay... I can do this.

"You can do this, goddess." Ki chimed in, "Nice and slow."

And the bike shot out. Whoa! Ki grabbed the handles to keep us going straight, "Break, goddess, break!"

Where the hell was the break? Oh there. I slammed on it just as we passed the other guys. They've already stopped and Harvey was giving them pointers, but you should've seen their faces as Ki and I shot past them and then e-braked.

If Ki wasn't behind me, I was sure the bike would've somersaulted head first. Even so, I nearly flew off the bike. My bum had completely left the seat for a few seconds there.

"You're gonna get yourself killed, Sam!" Henry yelled.

Next we had to turn our bikes, which meant a bit of back pedalling - once again impossible for me since my feet couldn't really reach the ground. Luckily, my bike came equipped with a Ki.

We practiced up and down a bit and I soon got the hang of it. The trick was to ignore the prowess of Ben and Henry. Those two were racing up and down. It was like they were born to ride. They also fell a few times because they were taking a turn too quickly. Ben also tried riding up the curb, which was dangerous, unlike illegally racing motorbikes up and down outside the alpha's residence.

"Don't trash the bike!" Harvey yelled from across the road, "We still need to hand them over to the warriors in one piece."

Ben just laughed.

Anyway, I couldn't let their stunts distract me. Under Ki's patient coaching, I managed to ride okay. It was surprisingly easy to balance on the bike while it was moving. The turns were pretty stable too, although I wasn't sure how much of that was due to having Ki's larger person behind me. But overall, it was fun.

It was also fun when Henry fell off the bike just getting off it.

"Be careful not to drop the... Oh, nevermind." Harvey gave up and got off his bike to help Henry up.

"F***." Henry said.

"You forgot to put down the kickstand, Alpha." Ben informed him belatedly.

I laughed out loud. Henry glared at me as I got off. Naturally, I didn't fall since Ki put down the stand, got off, and then made sure I got off safely.

"Whatever Sam." Henry decided I wasn't worth it.

"Let's ride out to hunt." Ben decided.

"I don't know..." Harvey looked to Ki.

"Should be alright." Ki smiled, "I'll ride with the goddess."

"If you drop her, you're dead." Ben told him.

And off we went, following Harvey down the road, through the town, out back into the woods. I actually followed the others alright, so even though I had a shakey start, I managed okay.

"Keep your eyes on the road, goddess." Ki advised from behind me, "Once we go off-road, you can't look away."

Which meant, I had no idea how fast I was going, or which gear I was riding at. Wth. Did it even matter?

Apparently.

"Keep a distance." Harvey was yelling, "Alpha, you're too close!"

In which he meant Henry, not me. Henry slowed somewhat suddenly to give some space between their bikes, which meant I needed to slow too. Which made me lose control of the clutch - don't ask, it just slipped out of my control and instead of slowing down, I sped up.

"Pop, goddess!" Ki grabbed the handlebars. I had the sense to pull up my feet so he could take over. But we were going downhill off road, and a large root in the middle of the dirt path was all that was needed to propel us into the nearly foliage.

"Sam!"

"Princess!"

"F***!"

Yeah, that's me.

I heard the engine cut off all around. Ki had gotten off and I climbed off after him, "Opps. That was my bad."

The other guys stomped into the newly made clearing to check the damage.

"Is she hurt?" Ben asked.

"Of course not, beta." Ki answered.

Harvey checked the bike, "Bikes fine too. Just a few scratches."

It took both Harvey and Ki to pull it out of the bushes and put it back on the dirt track.

"We need to head back." Henry told us, "Pete just mindlinked that the Night Leaf guys are on their way with the prisoners."

Eh, so soon?

"Yeah," Harvey agreed after consulting his watch, "It's already past midnight."

We headed back. This time, I rode behind Ki. It was pretty fun riding back. I didn't have to stress over actually controlling the stupid bike.

"Don't fall asleep, Sam!" Henry yelled over.

I yawned and rested my cheek on the back of Ki's armored jacket.

"By any chance is our Luna Bell meeting you tonight, Alpha?" Ki called back to Henry.

"No. Why?" I could hear the smirk in Henry's voice, "Afraid to get roasted?"

I could feel Ki's low laughter from against his broad back, "More like burnt to crisp, Alpha."

We stopped for gas on the way back. Harvey was saying we needed to return the bikes at full tank for the warriors.

Everyone was expected to stop their bikes properly at the pump and fill their bikes up, except for me, because my bike was equipped with a Ki.

"Oh right," Henry remembered, "Can you come in with me later?"

Eh? I cocked my head to the side.

"At the packhouse. We picked up a she-wolf today, she is badly injured, but says she carries a message for the Alpha Princess." Henry said, "We put her up in one of the guestroom and had a doctor see to her wounds."

Eh? Again. Who could that be? Someone I knew was injured badly?

"Thanks, Henry." I answered, "I wonder who it could be."

Henry shrugged, "She was rogue. If she hadn't said anything, we would have put her with the other prisoners."